Karen Goyette has broken at least one glass ceiling in her career in healthcare administration, trail-blazing work that earned her status this week as a Hartford Business Journal 2022 C-Suite Honoree.

Goyette, Hartford HealthCare’s executive vice president and chief strategy and transformation officer, is among 11 Greater Hartford executives recognized with the award in a ceremony at Farmington Gardens, Farmington.

“Karen has vision and the capacity to execute. There are many people who work in strategic planning who can do one or the other, and she is a rare combination of both. She has the consistency to create remarkable results,” said Hartford HealthCare president and CEO Jeffrey Flaks in Goyette’s nomination.

More than 22 years after joining Hartford HealthCare – and working her way up through leadership roles at MidState Medical Center, Hartford Hospital and, a decade ago, at the system level – Goyette was named to her current role on Oct. 1, becoming the first female to hold the cabinet-level position.

As such, she leads a team tasked with identifying and supporting the development of opportunities that advance Hartford HealthCare’s vision. Individually, she is responsible for overall strategy development, system and partnership integration, and business and ambulatory development.

“Karen always remembers and points out that the patient is our true north. A personal experience as a young woman left her determined to help create a kinder, gentle system of healthcare,” the award nomination reads. “That sentiment is palpable in every healthcare setting that Karen and her team touch.”

In addition, Goyette supports Hartford HealthCare’s focus on developing innovative partnerships that create greater access, improve affordability, enhance quality and promote equity in healthcare delivery.

When asked by the Hartford Business Journal for her greatest professional accomplishment in the last year, Goyette, a graduate of the University of Connecticut and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s master of business administration program, deferred to her team’s efforts to rebuild itself after losing two key members to other roles within the system.

“While their loss from the team initially created a void, it provided the opportunity to reevaluate how we could restructure and better support our customers,” she said.

In 2022, that newly-aligned team was able to:

  • Introduce nine new partnerships.
  • Review more than 100 business plans.
  • Build out 250,000 square feet to bring 25 additional ambulatory resources closer to patient homes.

Building relationships is one of Goyette’s strengths. In fact, when asked by the Hartford Business Journal what guiding business principle she followed, she answered simply: “Be yourself and build relationships.” To keep a competitive edge, she said one should, “Listen and be curious. You never know what direction a great idea will come from.”